The Graveyard Shift

Colloquially speaking, the graveyard shift is a late-night work shift that runs through the evening and into the morning. This timeframe is generally accepted as running from midnight until 8 am, and was originally coined based upon the assignment of some to walk the cemetery at night to watch over the graves of the dead.

A cloaked and hooded figure - the haunting image of Death - stalks an eerie graveyard on the obverse of Chris DeFlorentis' hobo nickel brought to life in the 2017 Silver Hobo Nickel collection. From his menacing skull countenance, to the scythe that he uses to harvest the souls of the dead, this Grim Reaper is certainly not a character that you'd want to meet on a dark night. It is the little details, like the tombstone bearing a clock, and the reaper punching his timecard, that characterises DeFlorentis' work and will make you fall in love with this coin.

The reverse of the coin offers a darkly humorous concept – the fish's revenge. The coin depicts a boy being caught on a hook, cast by none other than a large fish. Rather than casting a line in hopes of catching a meal, you’ll see a fish on shore casting out his line with a fisherman on the hook as a bait.